Editorial: Renewed focus on threats

After a tepid initial response — “the system worked” — the Obama administration last week finally demonstrated the sense of urgency demanded by the botched Christmas Day terrorist attack in Detroit.

A new report details the systematic failure of intelligence that nearly brought down Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Mr. Obama has ordered tougher security measures and new strategies, changes that are needed and well targeted.

The report showed that intelligence collection is fairly solid. Integrating that intelligence — “connecting the dots” — is weak and porous.

How else to explain the unheeded warnings that followed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab like a dark cloud? Abdulmutallab’s father tipped U.S. officials that his son had become radicalized. The 23-year-old Nigerian was on a terrorist watch list. Yet for some reason he was issued a U.S. visa and allowed to board a Detroit-bound plane with an explosive device, nearly detonated the bomb, and almost killed the 278 people aboard.

Among the changes announced by President Obama:

Improved airport screening, including more use of full-body scanners for certain passengers. Despite civil liberty concerns, more widespread use of this technology could make a big difference. Abdulmutallab was able to clear metal detectors. Full-body scanners would, presumably, have found the explosives tucked beneath his clothing.

Just as important in a world of international travel: Better coordination of screening procedures at foreign airports. Abdulmutallab went through security in Nigeria.

Intelligence individuals specifically assigned to track high-priority threats and make sure they’re acted upon aggressively, “not most of the time, but all of the time,” as Mr. Obama promised.

Strengthened criteria for putting people on watch lists.

A more intense focus on Yemen as a breeding ground for al-Qaida terrorists.

Aside from these specific measures, Mr. Obama’s tone has toughened considerably from his administration’s initial response.

“We are at war,” the president said Thursday. “We are at war against al-Qaida, a far-reaching network of violence and hatred that attacked us on 9/11, that killed nearly 3,000 innocent people, and that is plotting to strike us again. And we will do whatever it takes to defeat them.”

Much better than the out-of-the-gate reaction of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who blithely asserted, “The system has worked really very, very smoothly over the past several days.”

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs used similar language. Both sought to describe government reaction after the incident. But they flubbed opportunities to acknowledge that the intelligence world had failed to put together readily available puzzle pieces, and that the results could have been catastrophic.

Meanwhile, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Michael Leiter, the person charged with dot-connecting in the post-9/11 era, learned of the failed attack and promptly went on an already planned ski vacation. With White House approval.

This week, Mr. Obama brought renewed seriousness to national security. He does not bear all the blame. The multi-agency information gatherers and sifters who protect the United States against attack were put in place over many years and multiple administrations. Critics in Congress should be reminded of their part in creating the current intelligence apparatus.

However, adjusting to new threats is each president’s solemn task. Mr. Obama affirmed his final responsibility for national security when he said, “The buck stops with me.”

After a bad couple of weeks, that’s good to hear.

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